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Bitcoin Exec To Spend Two Years Behind Bars For Silk Road Transactions

Posted by samzenpus on from the end-of-the-road dept.

mrspoonsi writes Charlie Shrem, former Bitcoin Foundation board member and CEO of the now-defunct exchange BitInstant, has been sentenced to two years in prison for helping Silk Road users anonymously swap cash for digital currency. Silk Road, as you know, was the online marketplace infamous for hosting anonymous drug and gun sales that was busted by the FBI back in 2013. A version 2.0 went up shortly after that, but it suffered the same fate as its predecessor this November. Based on evidence gathered during the crackdown, Shrem agreed to partner with Robert M. Faiella to trade over $1 million in cash from buyers. Faiella was the one with direct contact to buyers, hiding behind the name BTCKing to post ads promoting his dollar-to-Bitcoin business on the marketplace.

5 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Sorry, not corporate enough. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If he worked for HSBC, he wouldn't even have been charged.

    1. Re: Sorry, not corporate enough. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Informative

      You're probably unaware that the GP specifically used 'HSBC' because they were caught laundering trillions of dollars of drug money and nobody was indicted. It's no crime to be ignorant of such things, but just try not to hold any policy positions on the subject.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  2. Trade $1,000,000 by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Help trade $1,000,000 for people to buy drugs for personal use: 2 years in prison.

    Help trade $10,000,000,000 to help drug cartels launder money: er not sure. Remind me what happened to the HSBC execs again...

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  3. Bitcoin Exec ?!? by Adeptus_Luminati · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bitcoin Exec? Really? Is that like the Bitcoin CEO the media was reporting on earlier this year? C'mon slashdot... How about some accuracy in your headlines for a change?

    There is no Bitcoin Exec because bitcoin is not a corporation. There are thousands of bitcoin related companies, but they each have their name. So maybe a title of "Bitinstant Exec..." would have been more accuracy.

    --
    No trees were killed in the making of this post; however, many trillions of electrons were horribly inconvenienced.
  4. Wrong on the guns by stevegee58 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Get your facts straight people. Silk Road did not sell guns.
    Granted it was allowed at first, but SR distanced themselves from firearms and hadn't allowed their sale for some time at the time of the raid.